Russian playwright and one of the great masters of modern short story. In his works Chekhov combined the dispassionate attitude of a scientist and a doctor with the sensitivity and psychological understanding of an artist. Chechov portrayed often life in the Russian small towns, where tragic events occur in minor key, as a part of everyday life.

Chekhov was born in Taganrog, Ukraine as the son of a grocer and grandson of a serf. His childhood was shadowed by his fathers tyranny and religious fanaticism. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog (1867-68) and Taganrog grammar school (1868-79).

In 1879 Chekhov eneted the Moskow University Medical School. While in the school Chechov to publish hundreds of comic short stories, under the pseudonyme Anton Chekhonte, to support himself and his mother, sisters and brothers. By 1886 he had gained wide fame as a writer. publishing in St. Petersburg daily papers, Peterburskaia gazeta from 1885 and Novoe vremia from 1886. Chekhov graduated in 1884, and practiced medicine in Moskow until 1892 and worked then in Melikhovo from 1892 to 1899, and in Yalta from 1899. His fist book of stories (1886) was a success, and gradually he became a full-time writer.

In 1890 Chekhov travelled across Siberia to remote Island, Sakhalin, where he conducted a detailed census of some 10 000 convicts and settlers condemned to live their lives on that unfriendly island. From this journey he wrote the travel book THE ISLAND: A JOURNEY TO SAKHALIN (1893-94).

Chekhov's first full-lenght plays were failures. When THE SEAGULL was revised in 1898 by Stanislavsky at the Moskow Art Theatre, he gained also fame as a playwright. Among his masterpieces are UNCLE VANYA (1900), THE THREE SISTERS (1901), and THE CHERRY ORCHAID (1904). In his plays Chekhov blended laughter and tears and left much room for imagination - his plays like stories reflect a multitude of possible viewpoints.

In 1892 Chechov bought a country estate in the village of Melikhove, where his best stories were born, including NEIGHBOURS (1892), WARD NUMBER SIX (1892), THE BALCK MONK (1894), THE MURDER (1895), and ARIADNE (1895). In 1897 he fell ill with tuberculosis and lived since either abroad or in the Crimea. In 1901 he married actress Olga Knipper (1870-1959), who had on stage several years central roles in his plays. Chekhov died on July 14/15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany.

Though celebrated figure by the Russian literary public at the time of his death, Chekhov remained rather unknown internationally until the years after World War I, when his works were translated into English.

For further reading: Anton Chekhov: A Critical Study by William Gerhardie (1923); Chekhov: A Life by David Magarshack (1952); Anton Chekhov by Walter Horace Bruford (1957), Chekhov: A Biography by Ernest J. Simmons (1962); A New Life of Anton Chekhov by Ronald Hingley (1976); Chekhov: A Study of the Major Stories and Plays by Beverly Hahn (1977); Chekhov: The Critical Heritage, ed. by Viktor Emeljanow (1981); Anton Chekhov by Irina Kirk (1981); Chekhov: A Study of the Four Major Plays by Richard Peace (1983); A Chekhov Companion, ed. by Toby W. Clayman (1985); Anton Chekhov: A Reference Guide to Literature by K.A. Lantz (1985); Anton Chekhov by Laurence Senelick (1985); Chekhov on Women by Carolina de Maegd-Soëp (1987); 'The Cherry Orchard': A Catastrophe and Comedy by Donald Rayfield (1994); Chekhov's 'Three Sisters' by Gordon McVay (1995); Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' and 'The Wood Demon' by Donald Rayfield (1995); Anton Chekhov: A Life by Donald Rayfield (1997); Understanding Chekhov by Donald Rayfield (1998)

Palata No. 6 (1892, Ward Six) - the classical story of the abuse of psychiatry. The highlystrung Gomov is convinced that anyone can be imprisoned. He developes a persecution mania and is incarcerated in a horrific asylum, where Doctor Ragin becames interested in his case. Their relationship attracts attention and the doctor is tricked into becoming a patient in his own ward. He dies after being beaten by his own charge hand. - The symmetrical story has much similarities with such works as Samuel Fuller's film The Shock Corridor (1963), and Ken Kesey's novl One Flew Over Cockoo's Nest (1975).

See also: MAXIM GORKY, IVAN BUNIN - Other masters of short story: Katherine Mansfield, Guy de Maupassant, O.Henry

For further reading: Anton Chekhov, a Life by Donald Rayfield (1997)

Note: Chechov's brother Aleksandr had problems with alcohol. His son Mihail moved in the 1920s first to Germany and then in the Unites States, where worked as an actor and teacher of acting. During WW II German's saved Chechov's house in Jalta because Mihail's wife Olga had herself photographed with Adolf Hitler, and she knew also Stalin.

SELECTED WORKS:

• DRAMA NA OKHOTE, 1884-85 - The Shooting Party
• O VREDE TABAKA, 1886 - On the Harmfulness of Tobacco
• IVANOV, 1887 - Ivanov
• LEBEDINAIA PESNIA, 1888 - The Swan Song
• STEP, 1888 - The Steppe
• MEDVED, 1888 - The Bear
• SKICHNAIA ISTORIIA, 1889 - A Dreary Story / A Boring Story
• PREDLOZHENIE, 1889 - The Proposal
• SVADBA, 1889 - The Wedding
• LESHII, 1889 - The Wood Demon
• TRAGIK PONEVOLE, 1890 - The Reluctant Tragedian
• DUEL, 1891 - The Duel
• POPRYGUNIA, 1892 - The Grasshopper
• IUBILEI, 1892 - The Anniversary
• PALATA No. 6, 1897 - Ward Number Six
• OSTROV SAKHALIN, 1893 - The Island: A Journey to Sakhalin
• CHERNYI MONAKH, 1894 - The Black Monk
• STUDENT, 1894 - The Student
• MOYA ZHIZN, 1895 - My Life
• DOM S MEZONIMOM, 1896 - The House with the Mezzanine
• CHAIKA, 1896 - The Seagul
• DYADYA VANYA, 1897 - Uncle Vanya
• MUZHIKI, 1897 - The Peasants
• KRYZHOVNIK, 1898 - Gooseberries
• IONYCH, 1898
• CHELOVEK V FUTLIARE, 1898 - Man in a Case
• DAMA S SOBACHOI, 1899 - The Lady with a Lapdog
• DUSHECHKA, 1899 - The Darling
• TRI SESTRY, 1901 - Three Sisters
• ARKHIEREI, 1902 - The Bishop
• NEVESTA, 1903 - The Fiancée
• VISHNYOVY SAD, 1904 - The Cherry Orchard
• Tales, 1916-22 (13 vols.)
• NEIZDANNAIA PESA, 1923 - That Worthless Fellow Platonov
• POLNOE SOBRANIE SOCHINENII I PISEM, 1944-51 (20 vols.)
• TATIANA REPINA, 1944-51
• NA BOLSHOI DOROGE, 1944-55 - On the Highway
• The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov, 1955
• Plays, 1959
• The Oxford Chekhov, 1964-80 (9 VOLS.)
• Letters of Anton Chekhov, 1973
• POLNOE SOBRANIE SOCHINENII I PISEM, 1974-83 (30 vols.)
• Plays, 1977
• The Kiss and Other Stories, 1982
• Plays, 1982
• The Early Stories 1883-1888, 1982
• The Duel and Other Stories, 1984
• The Party and Other Stories, 1985
• The Fiancée and Other Stories, 1986
• The Chekhov Omnibus, 1986
• Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters, 1994
• Dear Writer... Dear Actress, 1996
• Chekhov's Major Plays, 1996
• The Plays of Anton Chekhov, 1997